"was called ""Duck Soup."" Why a Duck? ""Why a Duck?"" is a comedy routine featured in the Marx Brothers movie ""The Cocoanuts"" (1929). In a scene in which Groucho and Chico are discussing a map, Groucho mentions the presence of a viaduct between the mainland and a peninsula. Chico, who is playing the role of an immigrant with poor English skills, replies ""Why a duck?"" This leads into a long schtick with Chico responding ""Why a no chicken?"", ""I catch ona why a horse"", and so forth. ""Why a Duck?"" is a touchstone scene for Marx Brothers fans, as evidenced"
"Duck Soup (1927 film) Duck Soup is a silent comedy short film starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy prior to their official billing as the duo Laurel and Hardy. The team appeared in a total of 107 films between 1921 and 1951. Fleeing a group of forest rangers, who are rounding up tramps to serve as firefighters, Laurel and Hardy take refuge in a mansion. The owner has gone on vacation and the servants are away, so Hardy pretends to be the owner and offers to rent the house to an English couple. Hardy gets Laurel to pose as the"
"of water, his eye was caught by a floating matchstick on top) and had to wear a glass eye, which gave him a somewhat cross-eyed appearance. He later supported such comedians as Harold Lloyd, W.C. Fields and Charley Chase, before his early death. Bobby Dunn died on 24 March 1937 in Hollywood, California, at the age of 46. Bobby Dunn Bobby Dunn (28 August 1890 – 24 March 1937) was a comic actor who appeared in several Laurel and Hardy comedies, including Tit for Tat. Also appeared in ""Duck Soup"" with The Marx Brothers.. He was one of the original"
"film was based was written by Stan Laurel's father, Arthur J. Jefferson. ""Duck Soup"" was remade as ""Another Fine Mess"" (1930). Duck Soup (1927 film) Duck Soup is a silent comedy short film starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy prior to their official billing as the duo Laurel and Hardy. The team appeared in a total of 107 films between 1921 and 1951. Fleeing a group of forest rangers, who are rounding up tramps to serve as firefighters, Laurel and Hardy take refuge in a mansion. The owner has gone on vacation and the servants are away, so Hardy pretends"
"Edgar Kennedy Edgar Livingston Kennedy (April 26, 1890 – November 9, 1948) was an American comedic film character actor, known as ""Slow Burn"". A slow burn is an exasperated facial expression, performed very deliberately; Kennedy embellished this by rubbing his hand over his bald head and across his face, in an attempt to hold his temper. Kennedy is best known for a small role as a lemonade vendor in the Marx Brothers film ""Duck Soup"", as well as the many Hal Roach films he appeared in. Kennedy was born on April 26, 1890, in Monterey County, California, to Canadians Neil"
"From Soup to Nuts From Soup to Nuts is a 1928 short comedy film starring Laurel and Hardy as butlers hired for a high society dinner party. When Stan is asked to serve the salad undressed he serves it in his underwear. The film was remade as a 20-minute section at the start of their 1940 feature ""A Chump at Oxford"", added to extend that film's length for European audiences. The film centers around Stan and Ollie being hired as waiters at an upper class dinner party and subsequently not making a very good job of it. The film starts"
"Duck Soup to Nuts Duck Soup to Nuts is a 1944 ""Looney Tunes"" cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. Daffy is relaxing in a pond with a group of mallards. Suddenly a gunshot goes off and all the ducks dunk their heads underwater for cover (Daffy puts a swimming cap on his head before similarly dunking his head). Porky enters and lets off another shot, which sends the other ducks flying away. Porky then takes aim at Daffy and orders him out. When Daffy comes out (still with his feet in the air), he quickly disarms Porky and tells the hunter"
"Grand Slam (1933 film) Grand Slam is a 1933 American comedy film directed by William Dieterle and Alfred E. Green, starring Paul Lukas, Loretta Young, and Frank McHugh. The film was released by Warner Bros. on March 18, 1933. A hat-check girl's skill with cards lands her a wealthy bridge champion. A waiter, Peter Stanislavsky (Lukas), learns the game of bridge as a favor to his new bride Marcia (Young), whose entire family excels at that card game. When he gets lucky and defeats a bridge champion, Cedric Van Dorn (Gottschalk), he jokingly claims ""the Stanislavsky method"" is how he"
"Jolson's musical ""Wonder Bar"", and in 1926 he made an appearance in the silent film ""The Great Depression"", although his scenes were deleted, before making his appearance in ""Trouble in Paradise"" (1932). His looks and accent helped him gain supporting roles in several movies, including the Sylvanian ""agitator"" in the Marx Bros. film ""Duck Soup"" (1933). He told Aljean Harmetz, author of ""Round Up the Usual Suspects: The Making of Casablanca"", that he was cast in his best-known role, Sascha in ""Casablanca"", because he was a drinking buddy of star Humphrey Bogart. He replaced Leo Mostovoy because the latter was"
"original (1998) broadcast of AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies and the 2007 update. Another testament to ""Duck Soup""'s legacy is its influence on Woody Allen films. Near the end of Allen's ""Hannah and Her Sisters"" (1986), a chance screening of ""Duck Soup"" convinces Allen's character that life is still worth living, and he abandons his suicidal impulses. His earlier ""Bananas"" (1971), a film chronicling the humorous rise of an unlikely dictator, has been dubbed a ""spiritual sequel to ""Duck Soup""."" ""Duck Soup"" is also frequently cited as a major influence of the comedic side of The Beatles, and The Beatles"
"Hot Pepper (1933 film) Hot Pepper (1933) is an American pre-Code comedy film starring Lupe Vélez, Edmund Lowe, and Victor McLaglen, directed by John G. Blystone and released by Fox Film Corporation. The film appeared before the enforcement of the Production Code. This film is considered an installment in the series of films dating back to the silent film ""What Price Glory?"" (1926), starring Lowe and McLaglen in their characters of Sergeant Harry Quirt and Captain Jim Flagg with Dolores del Río as the female costar. The pair made a sequel to that film called ""The Cock-Eyed World"" (1929), costarring"
"Leo McCarey Thomas Leo McCarey (October 3, 1898 – July 5, 1969) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was involved in nearly 200 movies, the most well known today being ""Duck Soup"", ""Make Way for Tomorrow"", ""The Awful Truth"", ""Going My Way"", ""The Bells of St. Mary's"", ""My Son John"" and ""An Affair To Remember"". While focusing mainly on screwball comedies during the 1930s, McCarey turned towards producing more socially conscious and overtly religious movies during the 1940s, ultimately finding success and acclaim in both genres. McCarey was one of the most popular and established comedy directors"
"The Good Old Soak The Good Old Soak is a 1937 drama film starring Wallace Beery and directed by J. Walter Ruben from a screenplay by A. E. Thomas based upon the stage play of the same name by Don Marquis. The picture's supporting cast features Una Merkel, Eric Linden, Betty Furness, and Ted Healy. Screenwriter Thomas was disturbed that MGM changed the title from the original ""The Old Soak,"" to the ""Good Old Soak."" MGM did that because it felt Wallace Beery's fans considered the word ""good"" synonymous with Beery. Rollin Kirby, a distinguished political cartoonist on the ""New"
"Bobby Dunn Bobby Dunn (28 August 1890 – 24 March 1937) was a comic actor who appeared in several Laurel and Hardy comedies, including Tit for Tat. Also appeared in ""Duck Soup"" with The Marx Brothers.. He was one of the original Keystone Kops in ""Hoffmeyer's Legacy"". Born Robert P. Dunn in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Richard P. and Melissa Dunn, he started his career at Keystone Film Company production. He worked in a number of American motion-picture producer and director Mack Sennett's comedies, and lost one of his eyes in a stunt that went wrong (while falling into a barrel"
"Soup's On Soup's On is a 1948 Donald Duck animated short film directed by Jack Hannah, produced in Technicolor by Walt Disney Productions and released to theaters by RKO Radio Pictures. Donald prepares a turkey dinner, while his nephews play Apaches. Donald says Calling dinner when he thinks his nephews didn't hear him. He repeats when they come and fight for turkey. The nephews were covered in mud so Donald send them to take a bath. They pretend they're bathing while Donald's proud of them. But Louie still has his hands dirty, so Donald found out they pretended to bathe"
"Soak the Rich Soak the Rich is a 1936 American comedy film written and directed by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, and starring Walter Connolly, John Howard, Mary Zimbalist, Lionel Stander, Ilka Chase and Alice Duer Miller. It was released on January 17, 1936, by Paramount Pictures. Humphrey Craig is a tycoon who has endowed a university. His idealistic daughter Belinda enrols there, hoping to get some idea of the 'real world'. When Professor Popper lectures his students on the merits of a 'soak-the-rich' tax bill, Craig (who opposes the bill) gets Popper fired. Meanwhile, Joe Muglia is the leader"
"out of sight, the ""wife and kids"" reveal themselves to be four friends of Daffy's, all with derbies and cigars. Their laughter is interrupted by Porky's shooting at them with his shotgun, and all five of them jump around, ""hoo-hoo""-ing as they jump into the distance. Duck Soup to Nuts Duck Soup to Nuts is a 1944 ""Looney Tunes"" cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. Daffy is relaxing in a pond with a group of mallards. Suddenly a gunshot goes off and all the ducks dunk their heads underwater for cover (Daffy puts a swimming cap on his head before similarly"
"""Duck Soup""'s script was completed by July 11. The script was a continuation of Ruby and Kalmar's ""Firecrackers""/""Cracked Ice"" drafts, but contained more elements. Many of the film's clever gags and routines were lifted from ""Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel"", giving Perrin and Sheekman an ""additional dialogue"" credit. Director McCarey reportedly came up with the title for the film, having previously used it for an earlier directorial effort with Laurel and Hardy. This continued the ""animal"" titles of the Brothers' previous three films, ""Animal Crackers"", ""Monkey Business"" and ""Horse Feathers"". ""Duck soup"" was American English slang at that time; it meant"
"The same, alas, cannot be said of their sense of direction."" Soak the Rich Soak the Rich is a 1936 American comedy film written and directed by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, and starring Walter Connolly, John Howard, Mary Zimbalist, Lionel Stander, Ilka Chase and Alice Duer Miller. It was released on January 17, 1936, by Paramount Pictures. Humphrey Craig is a tycoon who has endowed a university. His idealistic daughter Belinda enrols there, hoping to get some idea of the 'real world'. When Professor Popper lectures his students on the merits of a 'soak-the-rich' tax bill, Craig (who opposes"
"Duck, You Sucker! Duck, You Sucker! (, lit. ""Duck Your Head""), also known as A Fistful of Dynamite and Once Upon a Time… the Revolution, is a 1971 Italian epic Zapata Western film directed and co-written by Sergio Leone and starring Rod Steiger, James Coburn and Romolo Valli. Set during the Mexico Revolution of the 1910s, the film tells the story of Juan Miranda, an amoral Mexican outlaw, and John Mallory, an ex-Irish Republican Army revolutionary. After they accidentally meet under less-than-friendly circumstances, Juan and John involuntarily become heroes of the Revolution despite being forced to make heavy sacrifices. It"
"Audiences were taken aback by such preposterous political disregard, buffoonery, and cynicism at a time of economic and political crisis. Film scholar Leonard Maltin had this to say in his book ""The Great Movie Comedians"": As wonderful as ""Monkey Business"", ""Horse Feathers"", and ""Duck Soup"" seem today, some critics and moviegoers found them unpleasant and longed for the more orderly world of ""The Cocoanuts"" with its musical banalities. [...] Many right-thinkers laughed themselves silly in 1933—but a large number didn't. [...] The unrelieved assault of Marxian comedy was simply too much for some people. Years later, Groucho's son Arthur Marx"
"find out his dog would be unharmed. From this point on, Jackie Cooper had mixed feelings toward his uncle, almost to the point of hatred, and rarely spoke to him again. Skippy (film) Skippy is a 1931 American Pre-Code comedy film. The screenplay by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Don Marquis, Norman Z. McLeod, and Sam Mintz was based on the comic strip ""Skippy"" by Percy Crosby. The film stars Jackie Cooper, Robert Coogan, Mitzi Green and Jackie Searl. Director Norman Taurog won the Academy Award for Best Director (at age 32, he remained the youngest winner in this category until Damien"
"Doin' What You're Doin'"" by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. Hips, Hips, Hooray! showed scantily clad burlesque-style showgirls and female extras as typical of the Hollywood musicals in the Pre-Code era. Doris McMahon portrayed a nearly nude maid who wore only an apron. ""Keep On Doin' What You're Doin'"" was originally intended for the Marx Brothers' 1933 film ""Duck Soup"". A romantic subplot involving Ruth Etting was planned, but removed from the finished film. Despite being third-billed, in the finished film, Etting only has one scene. The film made a profit of $8,000. ""The New York Times"" gave ""Hips, Hips,"
"Menu (film) Menu is a 1933 American pre-Code short comedy film directed by Nick Grinde, produced by Pete Smith, and filmed in Technicolor. The film was nominated for an Academy Award at the 6th Academy Awards in 1933 for Best Short Subject (Novelty). This could be considered a ""prequel"" to the MGM short film ""Penny Wisdom"" (1937), also produced by Pete Smith. The scene opens with John Xavier Omsk drinking some bicarbonate of soda in the privacy of his office. Pete Smith, as the narrator, diagnoses John's stomach trouble as a ""simple case of bad cooking."" As the scene transitions"
"Lili Damita. Two other films followed before ""Hot Pepper"". Hot Pepper (1933 film) Hot Pepper (1933) is an American pre-Code comedy film starring Lupe Vélez, Edmund Lowe, and Victor McLaglen, directed by John G. Blystone and released by Fox Film Corporation. The film appeared before the enforcement of the Production Code. This film is considered an installment in the series of films dating back to the silent film ""What Price Glory?"" (1926), starring Lowe and McLaglen in their characters of Sergeant Harry Quirt and Captain Jim Flagg with Dolores del Río as the female costar. The pair made a sequel"
"A Ducking They Did Go A Ducking They Did Go is the 38th short film released by Columbia Pictures in 1939 starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). The comedians released 190 short films for the studio between 1934 and 1959. The Stooges are once again unemployed. After an unsuccessful attempt to steal a watermelon from a deliveryman (Cy Schindell), which lands them in trouble with a cop (William Irving), the boys wind up at the offices of the Canvas Back Duck Club. The club, run by conmen Blackie (Lynton Brent) and"
"the Marx Brothers, with Davison Clark playing Mr. Lee, Theatrical Producer, which was intended to promote their forthcoming 1931 film ""Monkey Business"" (Clark later played the role of the frustrated Passport Official in ""Monkey Business"" and would also appear in the war scene in ""Duck Soup""). The segment, containing material which was never included in any other Marx Brothers film, is a re-working of the first scene of their first successful Broadway revue ""I'll Say She Is"" (1924), which Groucho considered to have been the funniest work in the Brothers' career. Except for a few name changes and additional gags,"
"so that tests could be carried out to determine whether the material spilt was dangerous. The Lords accepted that a significant number of people were disadvantaged by the closure of the sorting office and the loss of delivery on that day, but held that the appellant did not have the appropriate ""mens rea"" because he did not know or reasonably should have known (because the means of knowledge were available to him) that the salt would escape in the sorting office or in the course of postal delivery. In the Marx Brothers film ""Duck Soup"", Groucho Marx plays the president"
"One More Effort, Chinamen, if you want to be revolutionaries! One more effort, Chinese, if you want to be revolutionaries! (""Chinois, encore un effort pour être révolutionnaires"") a.k.a. Peking Duck Soup is a 1977 film by Situationist director René Viénet. Unlike his earlier films ""Can dialectics break bricks?"" and ""The Girls of Kamare"", which ""detourned"" drama films, in this one, Viénet uses a great variety of sources (particularly archive footage of People's Republic of China leaders) to compose a political documentary sharply critical of Mao's legacy in China. The title is a reference to the pamphlet ""Français, encore un effort"
"Punch Drunks Punch Drunks is the second short film released by Columbia Pictures in 1934 starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Curly Howard). The comedians released 190 short films for the studio between 1934 and 1959. Struggling boxing manager Moe is having lunch with several associates who are angry at him for their low payment and threatening to quit on him. When he notices their shy waiter (Curly) goes into a violent fugue whenever he hears the song ""Pop Goes the Weasel"", which is the case when he knocks out three associates and"
"that the peace conference is a failure, and do everything they can to sabotage it. According to RKO records, the film made a profit of $65,000. Diplomaniacs Diplomaniacs is a 1933 American pre-Code film starring Wheeler and Woolsey. The film in noted for its absurdist political satire, somewhat in the manner of ""Million Dollar Legs"" or ""Duck Soup"", both of which were released within a year of ""Diplomaniacs"". The film concerns itself with the adventures of two men who have set up a failing business as barbers on an Indian reservation. When they are sent by the tribe as representatives"
"The Lemon Drop Kid (1934 film) The Lemon Drop Kid is a 1934 American comedy and drama directed by Marshall Neilan and written by Howard J. Green, J.P. McEvoy and Damon Runyon. The film stars Lee Tracy, Helen Mack, William Frawley, Minna Gombell, Baby LeRoy, Kitty Kelly and Henry B. Walthall. The film was released on September 28, 1934, by Paramount Pictures. Con artist and racetrack tout Wally Brooks hands a lemon drop to a man in a wheelchair, saying it will cure whatever ails him, then persuades the man, a millionaire named Griggsby, to bet $100 on a horse."
"Laugh and Get Rich Laugh and Get Rich is a 1931 pre-Code American comedy film, directed by Gregory La Cava, from a screenplay he also wrote with contributions from Douglas MacLean, who also was the associate producer, and Ralph Spence. The film stars Dorothy Lee, Edna May Oliver, Hugh Herbert, and Russell Gleason, and revolves around the antics in a boarding house in the early 1930s, run by Oliver, and the complications caused by her husband. Sarah Austin (Edna May Oliver) runs a boarding house during the Depression, always on the verge of bankruptcy. Her husband, Joe (Hugh Herbert) is"